oooh, the dresser is almost done!!

I'm getting so excited to show this! I feel like it is taking me forever to do this, but I am leaving lots of time for the paint to completely cure and harden up so that no little bumps or handling with create scratches or dings. Today, getting ready for the final white coat on the drawer fronts and cabinet, I just couldn't wait anymore and had to try dry-brushing the darker shade of white onto the medallions and raised details to see what it would look like. 

I was envisioning something darker, and was afraid it would be too stark a difference. I've grown to really like the way the medallions look on the drawers in white. I wasn't sure whether they would have that subtle appeal if they were dark. Here's a reminder of what they look like all white: 

Remember, this still needs another coat of the white paint, which will really make it sparkle. I hit the raised bits with the other shade while I only had the first coat on because I wanted to be able to just paint over it without any risk.

I should have not been worried about how dark the second color was going to be, though. The lighting in my basement is really, really not good. It's really horrible, to be honest - I have one bare light bulb on the ceiling with a pull cord to turn it on, and a lamp balanced on one of the shelving units near where I am doing this work. The other section of the basement has much better lighting - fluorescent, but much brighter and more of it. This side was so dark I had a hard time really seeing the second color when I put it on the raised rib there. I dry brushed a bit of the color over the top of the medallions to see how I liked it. I had originally planned on glazing it and brushing it off, but that wouldn't put the color on the bumped out part, but on the nooks and crannies instead. Plus, I wasn't sure if it would make the drawer look dirty - that's why I really don't like some of the waxing that I've seen over chalk paint, because it really makes the pieces look like the owners couldn't be bothered to wash away the grime.

As I said, I just did this quickly to get a sense of the color difference. I started out using a natural bristled brush, but had to get rid of that quickly because it was leaving little hairs all over my project! 

So anyway, I have painted over this with the final coat of white paint. You will have to wait and see the final reveal of the project to see what we decided to go with. I plan to let this dry a couple of days and then do the polycrylic coating on the top. That will likely take a couple of coats...and then I'll put it all back together, put the hardware back on, take a couple of photos, cover it all up with a sheet or something and move on to the next project. I have several lined up to choose from!